From the American Library Association, this award is given to the top YA book of the year.
WINNER
Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
HONOR BOOKS
Cope Field by T. L. Simpson
The House No One Sees by Adina King
Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley
Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout
The winners of the 2025 CBCA Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The awards are given by The Children’s Book Council of Australia and cover a wide age range. Here are the winners:
OLDER READERS
WINNER
I’m Not Really Here by Gary Lonesborough
HONOUR BOOKS
Birdy by Sharon Kernot
Into the Mouth of the Wolf by Erin Gough
YOUNGER READERS
WINNER
Laughter Is the Best Ending by Maryam Master, illustrated by Astred Hicks
HONOUR BOOKS
Aggie Flea Steals the Show by Tania Ingram, illustrated by A. Yi
Fluff: Mess Up! by Matt Stanton
EARLY CHILDHOOD
WINNER
The Wobbly Bike by Darren McCallum, illustrated by Craig Smith
HONOUR BOOKS
How to Move a Zoo by Kate Simpson, illustrated by Owen Swan
One Little Dung Beetle by Rhiân Williams, illustrated by Heather Potter & Mark Jackson
PICTURE BOOK
WINNER
The Truck Cat illustrated by Danny Snell, text by Deborah Frenkel
HONOUR BOOKS
Afloat illustrated by Freya Blackwood, text by Kirli Saunders
These Long-Loved Things illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh, text by Josh Pyke
EVE POWNALL AWARD FOR INFORMATION BOOKS
WINNER
Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson
HONOUR BOOKS
Making the Shrine: Stories From Victoria’s War Memorial by Laura J. Carroll
South With the Seabirds by Jess McGeachin
NEW ILLUSTRATOR
WINNER
Grow Big, Little Seed illustrated by Sarah Capon, written by Bec Nanayakkara
Sundown Girls by L. S. Stratton
Naomi has been returned to her biological family after living until recently with the woman she thought was her mother but who actually abducted her. Her family calls her by a different name and adjustment has been rocky. That’s why they decide to take a long summer vacation together in the Shenandoah Valley. However, the town they are near used to be a Sundown town and still holds some of the same beliefs about Black people living there. Naomi starts seeing a young Black girl outside her window who suddenly bursts into flames. As Naomi learns more about the history of the region, she realizes that it may not just be girls from the past who are in danger there.
Incredibly gripping and tense, this is a layered thriller for teens that speaks directly to the Black experience in sundown towns across the country. It also looks at how girls are exploited and ignored on multiple levels, becoming missing girls. Naomi is a great protagonist, strong and resilient while still struggling with her past and her current situation. Her messy relationship with her family is shown with empathy and honesty, adding to the questions of what is due to previous trauma and what is real.
A dark thriller full of personal trauma, history and ghosts.
NEWBERY MEDAL
All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson
NEWBERY HONOR BOOKS
The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser
A Sea of Lemon Trees by María Dolores Águila
The Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel Nayeri
The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman, illustrated by Marcin Minor
CALDECOTT MEDAL
Fireworks illustrated by Cátia Chien, written by Matthew Burgess
CALDECOTT HONOR BOOKS
Every Monday Mabel by Jashar Awan
Our Lake by Angie Kang
Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Big Tale from a Little Cave by Drew Beckmeyer
Sundust by Zeke Peña
Bug on the Bus by David Catrow
Part of the I Like to Read collection, this is a very clever beginning reader.. Bug waits patiently for the bus to come, runs to the bus and hops on. Pig runs to the bus and hops on. So does Pup, but Bat doesn’t run or hop. Fox and Hen run to the bus, as does Cat. Slug runs too, but far more slowly than the others. Finally, Skunk runs and hops on the bus. But no one wants to ride with Skunk, not even the driver, except for Bug. But what will they do with no one to drive the bus?
Catrow gives this reader plenty of action built into his simple words and phrases. He keeps the sentences in the book simple and the real story is told in the pictures. The illustrations add a wildness to the title, with their wacky characters, oversized reactions, and the wonderful hops onto the bus by the various animals.
Silly and delightfully odd, this beginning reader stands out from the rest like a skunk on a bus.
The United States Board on Books for Young People has announced their 2026 Outstanding International Books. The list includes 41 titles from 24 countries. Here are the listed titles:
Grades PreK-2
Afloat by Kirli Saunders
Blue Sky Morning by Jihyun Kim
Clara and the Man with Books in His Window by María Teresa Andruetto, illustrated by Marina Trach
Croco by Azul López
Downpour: Splish! Splash! Ker-Splash! by Yuko Ohnari, illustrated by Koshiro Hata
Everybelly by Thao Lam
How to Reach the Moon by Nicolás Schuff, illustrated by Ana Sender
Is It Asleep? by Olivier Tallec
M Is for Mango by Atinuke, illustrated by Angela Brooksbank
My Friend May by Julie Flett
My Home Is in My Backpack by Eugenia Perella, illustrated by Angela Salerno
Paloma Flies Away by María J. Guarda
Pencil by Hye-Eun Kim
Picking Tea with Baba by Bin Xu, illustrated by Yu Yin
The Playdate by Uje Brandelius, illustrated by Clara Dackenberg
The Snow Theater by Ryōji Arai
Take a Walk with the Wind by Liang Xiong
The Three-Year Tumble by Dayeon Auh
Wrestlers of the Grasslands by Hao Liu
Grades 3-5
Electric Birds of Pothakudi by Karthika Naïr, illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet
Giant by Judith McQuoid
Journey of the Humpbacks by Juliana Muñoz Toro, illustrated by Dipacho
My Brother by Laura Djupvik, illustrated by Øyvind Torseter
The Ordinary Life of Jacominus Gainsborough by Rébecca Dautremer
Sound: Discovering the Vibrations We Hear by Olga Fadeeva
The Sunshine Project by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Julianna Swaney
The Village Beyond the Mist by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Miho Satake
Grades 6-8
Adi of Boutanga: A Story from Cameroon by Alain Serge Dzotap, illustrated by Marc Daniau
Astro by Manuel Marsol
Beasts by Ingvild Bejerkeland
Biggest Fake in the Universe by Johan Rundberg
Butterfly Heart by Moa Backe Åstot
Dropping Beats by Nathanael Lessore
Okchundang Candy by Jung-soon Go
Pilgrim Codex by Vivian Mansour, illustrated by Emmanuel Valtierra
Tyger by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean
Grades 9-12
The Bees: The Women Who Rocked Lithuania by Akvilė Magicdusté
The Hidden Girl by Louise Bassett
Old as Stone, Hard as Rock: Of Humans and War by Alessandro Sanna
Self Portrait by Ludwig Volbeda
Solo by Gráinne O’Brien
CHILDREN’S LIT
National Black Child Development Institute Announces Book, Toy, & Media Awards Celebrating Culturally Affirming Content for Black Children – Black Press USA
LIBRARIES
Judge orders Anna’s Archive to delete scraped data; no one thinks it will comply – Ars Technica
‘Libraries are not luxuries’: Massachusetts librarians advocate for $1M increase in public library aid – Daily Hampshire Gazette
Microsoft is closing its employee library and cutting back on subscriptions – The Verge
Public libraries submitting content reviews to TN Secretary of State ahead of deadline – WJHL
YA LIT
A Barbie Romantasy Book Is Coming—and I Don’t Know How to Feel About It – Good Housekeeping
The January/February Kids Indie Next List has been announced. Here are the books recommended by independent booksellers:
PICTURE BOOKS
Bored by Felicita Sala
Crouton by Kristine A. Lombardi
The Great Bear by Annie Booker
Love Finds a Way by Vern Kousky
Mungo on His Own by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Julie Benbassat
Plenty of Pancakes by Carrie Finison, illustrated by Brianne Farley
Sparkles for Sunny: A Lunar New Year Story by Sylvia Chen, illustrated by Thai My Phuong
A Stickler Valentine by Lane Smith
This Hair Belongs by JaNay Brown-Wood, illustrated by Erin K. Robinson
The Wildest Thing by Emily Winfield Martin
Your Truck by Jon Klassen
MIDDLE GRADE
Alice with a Why by Anna James
Basket Ball: The Story of the All-American Game by Kadir Nelson
Ella Josephine Resident in Charge by Nina LaCour, illustrated by Sonia ALbert
Ghost Boys: The Graphic Novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes, illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey
Gumshoe by Brenna Thummler
The Moon Without Stars by Chanel Miller
Saber-Tooth by Robin Gow
Secrets of the Broken House by Taryn Souders
Serendipity by Gabbie Benda
A Waffle Lot of Love! by Ben Clanton
YOUNG ADULT
An Archive Romance by Ava Reid
Beth Is Dead by Katie Bernet
Gaslit by Megan Davidhizar
The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay by Ryan Douglass
The Obsession by Natasha Preston
Persephone’s Curse by Katrina Leno
The Roommate Arrangement by Samantha Markum
The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi
There’s Always Next Year by Leah Johnson and George M. Johnson
This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
Frog: A Story of Life on Earth by Isabel Thomas, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus
A child discovers frog eggs in a pond. Eggs will become tadpoles and eventually frogs. But where did the very first frog come from? Well, the picture book merrily takes children way back in time to the Big Bang where the first atoms were just forming. Stars formed and exploded, atoms moving across the universe. 8 billion years later, our solar system formed around the sun. Earth was perfectly positioned to create living things, but it took time. Cells formed, became creatures, lived in water and eventually on land. Amphibians rule the land for 100 million years, evolving and eventually frogs started hopping.
This is the third book by this creative pair, offering a book both about frogs and about the universe and life itself. The text is engaging and interesting as it suddenly veers from pond life to all life and then back again to frogs. It’s a journey in time and space that is definitely worth taking as the book explains the process simply for young children to understand. The illustrations also change from watery blues and greens of frogs and ponds to the dynamic colors of the universe as it is born and grows.
A book about frogs that hops in new directions. Appropriate for ages 4-7.
How to Hatch: A Gosling’s Guide to Breaking Free by Sara Holly Ackerman, illustrated by Galia Bernstein
Beginning with a gosling snug in his egg, the book tells it that it is time to hatch! Step one is finding and pricking the air cell in the egg so that the gosling can breathe. Step two is tapping away with its egg tooth to break that shell. Perhaps a quick nap, since that was hard work. Now on to cutting the shell and using wings and legs to exit. Find a warm spot to dry off and then you are set to head out with your mother and siblings.
Alongside the jaunty hatching story that can be shared aloud, there are in-depth facts on each page turn so that readers can learn more. It’s a great way to share information with children who are interested and still have a fast-paced read aloud for a crowd. The facts are written in an engaging style too, full of answers to natural questions. The art in this picture book is a lovely mix of cartoon and science, making for a book that will show well to a group and also read well snuggled close.
A cracking good book. Appropriate for ages 4-7.
Waking Brain Cells 